


Can we trust her?

by AriaGS



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-14 13:26:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 20,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4566297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriaGS/pseuds/AriaGS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The new Avengers are going on with their lives, until a strange villian comes and the only one that can defeat him is Wanda but not everyone trusts her, she's changed but will everyone see that? Please read!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She woke up in the middle of the night; her head was killing her again. After trying and failing to fall asleep, she got up from her bed and decided to go for water.  
Everyone seemed to be still sleeping; well it was 2:30 am so she couldn’t blame them. When she finally arrived to the kitchen she opened the drawer beneath the sink and pulled out a bottle of water, Wanda hid them there because Sam would drink 5 bottles per day, leaving her with none to drink when she was thirsty, unless she got to the kitchen first but that never worked. She opened the bottle and took a zip; the liquid went down her throat refreshing her mouth.  
Wanda started walking to her bedroom when she heard a noise coming from the living room, it sounded like a sigh or maybe a cough; it was probably one of her teammates but she went to check anyways, not being sure if she went to investigate or just to find someone she could speak to.  
Sitting on a couch with her eyes closed, Natasha tried to relax, the spy had heard that someone else was coming two minutes ago but pretended to not notice until Wanda was five feet away.  
“Can’t sleep?” Wanda asked her  
Natasha opened her eyes “Not really, you?”  
She shook her head and took a sit next to the red head “So what are you doing?”   
“Trying to get tired again”  
The Scarlet witch sighed “Good luck with that” she offered her friend the bottle of water and Nat took it  
“Why do you have sleeping problems? Aren’t you too young for that?” She asked her after taking a drink of the bottle  
Wanda frowned “Why does everybody treat me like a child? I’m not that young! And trust me I have had sleeping problems since I was just a kid”  
Romanoff chuckled “Sorry big girl” and to change the subject she asked “You have sleeping problems because of your powers?”  
The sokovian nodded “The headaches got even worse after they implemented the mind reading”  
Natasha frowned in confusion “You had powers before you were experimented with?”  
“Yes, I was born with telekinesis, they implemented the mind reading and the other stuff” she explained  
Natasha almost threw the bottle “You mean you were born with powers?! How is that even possible?”  
Wanda laughed and explained “My biological father, not the one in Sokovia, was born as a mutant; he had ‘powers’ too, although I’m not sure of what he can do”  
“You were adopted then?”   
She nodded “I met my real father when Pietro and I were twelve; he tried to reclute us in his army, obviously Pietro told him to piss off and we enlisted ourselves instead for the experiments knowing that we would survive the procedures because of our ‘mutant’ gene”  
“So you are a mutant?” Natasha asked her mockingly  
Wanda’s eyes twitched “I don’t like that term but yes, technically I am” then she looked straight into her friend’s eyes “Natasha, I trust you so please don’t mention this to anyone”  
“Of course I won’t, I promise” she assured her, then handed her the bottle. “I’m going to sleep now, see you tomorrow” and they both went to their respective bedrooms.

After Wanda had joined the Avengers it took them a while to trust her so she had to double her efforts to make everyone sure she was on their side. Clint and Steve assured everyone else that they could trust her, but she knew that if she wanted everyone to know she was on their side she had to make Natasha trust her. The ex- Russian assassin spy knew that Clint wouldn’t support someone that wasn’t changed; she remembered how hard was it for her to adapt to SHIELD and stop being treated like a bomb that could explode anytime. She noticed that Wanda had begun to try being her friend so she put aside all of her spy rules and decided to trust the Maximoff kid, it was funny because she reminded her of herself: insecure, scared and that feeling that she didn’t belong anywhere, besides it was nice to have another girl in the team, it was beginning to be uncomfortable talking to Steve about Bruce.  
The avenger’s facility had a special part for them to live, like a house; they all had spacious bedrooms that looked like a small apartment and a living room, a kitchen and even a backyard outside! Everyone had a bedroom in case they were on a mission but currently only Steve, Sam, Natasha, Vision and Wanda lived there.

The next morning was quite normal, Vision was the first one up and he sat on the table reading a newspaper, Steve was making coffee and toast while watching the news from the TV on the living room while Natasha criticized Steve’s coffee and Sam was still sleeping after having stayed up last night watching a movie. Wanda entered the room and sat next to Vision rubbing her temples and closing her eyes.  
“Are you alright?” Vision asked her putting down his newspaper  
She nodded and opened her eyes to look at him “Yes, although I could use an aspirin”  
Steve looked away from the TV “That works on you?”  
Wanda shrugged “Define work. I’ll try anything that will make the pain stop”  
“Have you tried drinking coconut water?” Vision asked her  
They all stared at him “It helps the headache to stop” he explained  
“I’ll ask Mariah for some” Natasha told them taking out her phone and texting.  
Steve shrugged, he wasn’t sure why would a professional SHIELD agent would agree to bring them food, but he wasn’t going to argue with Romanoff.  
“Thanks” Wanda said  
Then Sam walked in still in his pajamas  
“Good morning sunshine” Nat welcomed him  
Sam sighed “I’m still sleeping so I’m not going to take that comment into account”  
Rogers laughed.  
Wanda was about to say something when she heard a loud piercing sound, she looked around to see if anyone else had heard it but they all seemed to not have.  
“Guys?” she asked  
They all looked at her  
“Are you okay?” Sam asked concerned, they all looked at her as if she had something on her face.  
She tried to say something else but then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Wanda opened her eyes; she was lying in the middle of an empty street. She got up quickly and looked around; it seemed to be a normal neighborhood, but where was she? The last thing Wanda remembered was passing out in the kitchen, for an instance she was afraid she was dead but then discarded the idea.  
She walked slowly to the pavement and once she was in front of a wooden house she heard a voice well, not an actual voice, it was more like someone was communicating trough her thoughts.  
“Wanda, why do you hang around with a bunch of people who claim to be heroes? Isn’t one of him the responsible for your brother’s death?” the voice said  
She tried to recognize it but couldn’t, she had never heard that man before “What do you want?” she asked out loud  
He laughed “I want you to have the life you deserved; there is no need to live in a world where your dear ones are dead”  
“Who are you?!” she yelled  
“That doesn’t matter, what is important is that I can offer you a new life” the voice answered “Open the door of the house and you’ll see what I mean”  
She looked around expecting to see the owner of the mysterious voice but he only laughed louder “Just open it” he said   
Wanda took a deep breath and forced her legs to walk to the door, when she had reached it she knocked slowly, hoping no one would answer and that she would finally wake up from that insane dream.  
Unfortunately the door opened and a blond woman smiled to her.  
“Hey! Come in” she invited Wanda who looked behind her expecting that the stranger wasn’t talking to her but the woman laughed and pulled her gently in.  
The house looked warm, it was an actual home, and Wanda hadn’t been in one since she was a little girl which seemed like centuries ago.   
A little boy came running down the hallway he looked around five but he was quite fast, he laughed loudly and went to hug his mother’s leg. He was followed by a tall man, Wanda’s heart almost stopped.  
“What do you look as if you just had seen a ghost?” Pietro asked her with a mocking tone  
Her lips trembled and she ran towards her brother and hugged him tightly.  
“Wow, are you alright?” he asked her confused  
His sister shivered and he patted her back, not sure of what was going on. The blond woman gave him a look and took the little boy in her arms and went upstairs.  
Wanda closed her eyes, for the first time since her brother died she was happy, truly and deeply happy.  
“It’s not fair, is it?” The voice said and she opened her eyes; he continued “It’s not fair that this is just an illusion”  
Pietro let her go and took a step back “Wanda, do you feel alright?  
She looked at him but everything was getting blurry and she heard the same piercing sound she had before she passed out.   
“I can offer you this, just work with me” the voice of the man said  
She reached for her brother’s hand but her eyes shut instantly. “I can offer you this” he repeated.

When Wanda woke up she was wet and everyone was looking at her concerned   
“Sorry for the water, but we couldn’t wake you up” Sam apologized  
Vision and Steve helped her get up “What happened?” She asked  
Natasha placed her palm on her forehead with a worried face “You passed out for three minutes, do you want to see a doctor or something?”   
“I’m fine, I just need to rest” and with that she left to her bedroom, leaving everyone confused.  
When she was finally alone she lied on her bed and closed her eyes instantly falling asleep.

Steve continued watching the game, he was worried about his friend but he wasn’t going to push her into making her trust him and talking about what had just happened. They tried to shake her and Natasha even slapped her, not to hard of course, but she still hadn’t woken up. His first instinct was checking her pulse but it seemed steady. Natasha started typing on her phone Maria’s number when Sam had the idea of throwing water at her face. When she opened her eyes everyone had felt relieved.  
“Cap, are you okay?” Natasha asked him  
He nodded “Why?”  
“Cause your team just scored and you didn’t even blink” she answered  
Steve snorted “I still don’t get the game” he lied  
She frowned at him. Crap, he couldn’t lie to Natasha, actually no one could.  
“I’m fine” he promised her  
The spy nodded and continued eating some toast she had taken from him.  
Maria Hill came in almost running. “We got something new” she announced  
“Really?! I haven’t even finished my coffee” Sam muttered  
She ignored the comment and looked at Steve “A man called Sebastian Carson tried to infiltrate the facility, we stopped him but he didn’t seem to be bothered at all”  
“Did you catch him?” Natasha asked   
“No, he… he just walked away, everyone said that they couldn’t move he was controlling them in some sort of way” the agent answered  
“Like mind reading?” Steve asked, he still didn’t know the name of Wanda’s powers but he had meant to compare them  
Maria nodded and explained “He kept saying that he could offer us more”  
“More than what?” Vision asked  
“More than what’s fair” Wanda explained, she had just entered the kitchen and overheard the conversation.  
Everyone looked at her and she explained “When I passed out I heard a voice that told me the same but I thought it was just an illusion”  
The Agent Hill looked at her with piercing eyes “Well he has the same powers that you do, so are you sure you weren’t playing a trick?”  
Wanda opened her mouth but Vision stood in front of her facing Maria “I think you are making a wild and none based supposition” he told her  
Steve gave him a ‘Calm down’ glare and looked at Agent Hill “Wanda didn’t do anything, we can trust her”  
She nodded and walked to the exit “Can we really?” she asked and left  
Natasha placed her arm around Wanda “Don’t listen to her, we trust you”  
She nodded. She was changed. The tricky part now was figuring out who this Sebastian guy was, if he shared the same powers she had then everything would be more dangerous, everything will be more dangerous.


	3. Chapter 3

Natasha could always tell if people were lying or keeping anything from her. Recently Wanda was acting suspicious; she was always disconnected in her thoughts and had a permanent worried face, so she decided to invite her to watch a movie in her room. Wanda ended up telling Natasha with full detail about the illusion she had, after she finished Romanoff remained silent and when least expected she started to talk again.  
“This guy created an illusion of your brother that means he knew you in some sort of way. It sounds like he wanted to offer you something that would tempt you”   
“But I have had never met him” Wanda told her  
Natasha rested her head on the bed support and asked “Have you tried doing that? I mean, you showed me the Red Room and didn’t know about it”  
The comment gave her an idea “If that was all in my head, maybe I could go back”  
They spy looked at her confuse “That’s not what I meant”   
“Of course not” she agreed and to change the topic she brought Sebastian back “If he can read our minds then we aren’t safe. I can only create illusions if I am near the person, but he wasn’t when he attacked me, maybe he can also read minds no matter the distance, he has an advantage”  
Romanoff arched her eyebrows “What do you mean? We have you! If he reads our mind you can read his”  
Wanda nodded and got up “I am going to get some rest “and went to her own bedroom.  
She sat on her bed with her back resting on the wall and closed her eyes. If Sebastian had showed her Pietro it was because he had taken that vision from her own mind so she focused deeply, muttering “Take me back”.   
She was starting to get a headache but that didn’t stop her, even her night table had begun to shake, her telekinesis was getting out of control. When she started to get dizzy she had to stop but instead of being in her bedroom she appeared to be in Pietro’s house. It had worked, Sebastian had only shown her something that was already in her mind, just like she had done with the Avengers before being on their side, and the only difference was that she had shown them confusing memories; in this case this man had woken up an alternate reality.  
“Pietro?” she called out, still doubting if this was happening or not  
Her brother appeared by her side a second later “Are you feeling better now?” he asked  
Wanda smiled and couldn’t help to avoid sobbing. Pietro was more confused now; he hugged her not knowing what else to do.  
The phrase ‘it wasn’t fair’ seemed fitting for her now, Pietro was the only family she had and now he only existed in her head as a distant possibility of ‘what if things had got different’. The only person Wanda could trust blindly was him so she decided to tell him the fact that this was all happening inside her head, and he incredibly believed her without hesitation.  
“Why do you look so surprised? Since you were little you could do that” he explained after she had been surprised for him actually believing her.  
In this reality she had realized her power earlier, what else was different?  
“Are you an Avenger too?” she asked her brother  
His eyes twitched and he took a deep breath before explaining “Wanda, after Ultron was killed the Avengers broke apart, Clint died”   
Even if it wasn’t her reality she felt a stung in her chest, the man who had defended her restlessly from the people that thought she wasn’t changed was dead. In the real life agent Barton was on vacations with his beautiful family.  
“What about the others?” she asked curiously  
Pietro sighed, he would have to tell her everything just as if she had amnesia, his Wanda was less gothic, and he realized something was wrong when she walked in his house that morning wearing black clothes. “Stark is married and has a daughter” he started saying “the blond alien rules his planet; I forgot his name so don’t ask. Captain America and the red head are engaged and the green one disappeared after the fight”  
Everyone seemed to be different except for Banner and maybe in this dimension he didn’t have hair or something.  
“What about Vision?” she asked realizing Pietro had forgotten to say what had happened to him  
Her brother smirked mischievously  
“What?” she asked confused  
Pietro chuckled “You are his girlfriend”  
Wanda went red and almost choked, that seemed stupid, how was that even possible? She didn’t even like him… right?  
He laughed “Don’t worry, is not that bad” he assured her “And as for me I am married to the beautiful woman you scared earlier and have a son called Erik”  
“Why Erik?” she asked   
“Because of dad” Pietro explained  
She was about to ask him something else when she felt someone shaking her.   
Wanda was back to reality with a headache, a bleeding nose and an angry Natasha giving her the glare.  
“You hit me?” she asked her realizing the blood drops  
Natasha snorted “I was about to!” and handed her a tissue. While Wanda whipped the blood off her nose, Natasha sat next to her “You tried to see your brother, didn’t you?”  
The girl looked at her with a guilty look “I did but it worked!” then explained everything to the red head.  
Even though it sounded stupid and crazy Romanoff believed her, Wanda could do a lot of crazy things so she didn’t doubt her word. She also asked the spy to not tell anyone else and Natasha promised she would never do it  
“Don’t go back there in a while, God knows what will happen to you if you stay there more than a couple of minutes” she warned before leaving.  
Natasha was beginning to realize that she was being really protective towards Wanda, maybe it was the fact that she didn’t want anything to happen to the only girl apart from her in the team or maybe because even though her friend was really powerful she was just a kid that was forced to grow up really fast with no family, just like she had been a couple of years ago or maybe her motherly side was taking over her or maybe all of the above. Anyways she would do what was best in her power to help Wanda.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day Maria Hill returned to the kitchen ready to apologize, she still didn’t trust the Maximoff kid but she didn’t want the Avengers to hate her, only Steve was in the kitchen so she decided to apologize to him first  
“Me and you are okay, don’t worry, the one you have to talk to is Wanda” he told her  
She nodded and handed him a tablet with a man’s photograph  
“Is this Sebastian?” Steve asked after looking at the picture.  
“Yes, his expedient is clean, apparently he had a stable job at Cambridge University until he was fired for hitting a student” she answered  
He glared at her, the man in the photo looked normal, he even had a peaceful expression. “Why did he hit a student?”  
The ex-SHIELD agent shrugged “No one knows, one day he showed up to give a class and he became crazy” she took a step back “I’ll let you guys know where he is once we find his location”  
Steve nodded and she smiled before leaving. Sam walked in five minutes later “Any news?” he asked.  
His teammate sat on the couch in the living room and said “Not really, Hill said she would let us know where he is once they find him”  
Sam sat next to him “Are you okay? You seem tired”  
He laughed “I’m exhausted, I have this feeling that something bad is going to happen anytime soon”  
It was Falcon’s turn to laugh “Of course you feel like that! It’s part of being an Avenger”  
Steve nodded in agreement and smiled “Well, let’s have some fun while we can”  
He and Sam shared a look and prepared the living room for a fun session, and by fun I mean they set up the game console and made popcorn.  
Falcon was pretty bad at playing videogames but Steve was three times worse so it was quite interesting to watch them play. The super soldier kept killing his friend by accident and Sam constantly confused the ‘jump’ key with ‘run’ so his character instead of jumping over a cliff would run towards it and fall to his death.  
“Damn it!” Sam yelled after Steve had killed him for the fifth time  
“Sorry” his friend apologize   
“You know we are a team in the game, right?” he snapped  
Rogers paused the game “Yeah, I’m sorry it won’t happen again” he assured him and resumed the game.  
Natasha and Wanda entered the room   
“What are you doing?” The twin asked amused  
Sam’s character had fallen into a cliff again so he turned towards them. “Playing a videogame” he answered “wanna try?” he asked her  
“I don’t know how to” she answered  
“Nonsense! It’s not that hard, come and play” he invited her again and taking a glance of Steve he added “besides I doubt you can be worse than him”  
Natasha laughed and took a sit next to Captain America while Wanda took the one next to Sam, he handed her a joystick and explained the basic stuff, and her character appeared in the screen next to theirs.   
After a long five minutes in which they had to run around the woods an army of wild monkeys started attacking them  
“What do I do now?” Wanda asked confused  
“KILL THEM, KILL THEM ALL” Steve yelled/ordered, Natasha frowned at him, she never thought he would become so passionate towards a videogame  
Sam started hitting the monkeys furiously, that means he pressed the ‘attack’ key really fast over and over, while Wanda ran around avoiding being killed. Steve made a concentration face and announced “I’m going to use the grenade”  
Falcon nodded “Do it! I trust you man, remember it’s the last one”  
Captain America took a deep breath and threw the grenade, the whole world seemed to stop for a minute. The move was meant to be epic, all of the monkeys would have died instantly but of course we have to remember that it was Steve, a man who had lived in the time were TV didn’t even exist, the one who threw it, so he ended up missing the target and throwing the grenade to Sam.  
“WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!” he yelled at Steve  
Natasha was dying of laughter.  
“I’m sorry?” Steve apologized   
Sam took a cushion and started to hit Captain America. Meantime Wanda’s character had found a hidden gun behind a tree, so she started shooting the evil monkeys. The two grownups stopped fighting when they saw Scarlet Witch’s epic attack. When she was done killing all of the monkeys the screen turned black and big yellow words appeared “Level Up” it announced.  
“I won?” she asked excited   
Sam grinned and shouted “You did!”  
She stood up and high-five’d Nat, Steve went to her and carried Wanda on his back. “We had never won!” he told her happily.  
The four people in the living room started shouting in sign of victory and jumping around like idiots.  
Vision who had been reading calmly in his room entered the living room slowly, wandering what had happened. Imagine his surprise when he found two of the Avengers jumping/dancing around and Captain America carrying Wanda on his back.  
When everyone noticed Vision they stopped jumping and Steve put Wanda down.  
“I’m going to the bathroom” Sam excused himself and left  
“I have to water the plants” Natasha lied and also left  
“Me too” Steve said before following the red head.  
Wanda chuckled and Vision arched his “eyebrows” at her “What happened?” he asked  
She cleared her throat and explained “I won a game”  
“Oh” he let out  
She smiled not knowing what else to do, and couldn’t avoid remembering Pietro’s comment “You are his girlfriend”. Wanda shook the idea off, or did she?


	5. 5

Maria Hill entered the room almost running “We found Sebastian” she announced  
“Where is he?” Vision asked her  
“He went to visit Stark” she answered.  
They all went to suit up and took a helicopter towards the Avenger’s tower. The helicopter landed on Stark’s balcony and flew away again.  
The door was open so the Avengers walked in slowly; Steve put his finger on his mouth to let everyone know they shouldn’t make sound. The tower was full of a sinister silence. They wouldn’t have found Stark if it hadn’t been because Wanda read his mind, she pointed towards the billionaire’s lab and everyone walked towards it.  
Captain America was the first one to arrive, he saw Stark standing in the middle of the lab staring at a man that was in front of him; because of the angle they couldn’t see the man but they caught a glimpse of Tony’s face, he didn’t seem to be able to move; only his eyes were looking around. Steve raised his hand to get Tony’s attention, the billionaire looked at him and blinked, the he looked at the man in front of him to simulate not having seen the avenger.  
“Captain America, please come inside” Sebastian invited him; he had a thick English accent.  
Rogers remembered about the mind reading and tried to blank his head but it was quite difficult, he let out the breath he had been holding and entered the lab.   
“Please tell all of your teammates to also come in” Sebastian added after he saw Steve’s thoughts  
The avengers entered one by one and stood next to Tony. Carson didn’t look evil; in fact he would have been mistaken for a normal person. His skin looked pale, as if he hadn’t been out in a long time, he had curly light brown hair and average height, the only thing that gave him away were his eyes, they looked cold and calculating.  
“He’s looking inside our mind” Wanda warned out loud.  
He smiled and said “I am, but so are you darling”  
“What do you want?” Steve asked  
Sebastian answered without taking his eyes of Wanda “Vengeance”  
“Of what?” Natasha asked sounding bored  
“Of you” he answered, realizing everyone stared at him in confusion he rolled his eyes “I was in New York when the alien invasion came, my wife died trapped in a building”  
Captain America was about to tell him that he was sorry for his loss but that they couldn’t do anything about it now but Carson looked at him and suddenly the super soldier froze, he couldn’t move anymore.  
“I wouldn’t pull out a gun if I were you” Sebastian told Natasha  
She raised her arms in sign of defeat but he smirked “That won’t work either”  
The red head looked at Sam so he took his gun out and aimed it at Carson but he pointed to Wanda, Falcon’s lips trembled but he turned towards her and placed the gun next to her head.  
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Natasha yelled at her.  
“He’s controlling Sam” Wanda told her, she tried reading Sebastian’s thoughts but failed  
“I have a defense system” he explained her “I can block unwanted visitors in my head”  
She turned towards Vision hoping he would fire at Sebastian but he was frozen, Carson had done that in the instance he came in.  
“What do you want?” Natasha asked now angrily  
“I don’t want to kill you” he started saying “to kill you would be easy, a quick end. I am a scientist and you are the world’s mightiest heroes, I only want to test how strong and how resistant you can get” the last he said with a wicked tone  
Wanda remembered how her headaches would make her unfocused. Sebastian wasn’t reading her mind at the time; his power was invested on controlling the other Avengers. She closed her eyes and tried to return to the other reality, not to visit her brother but to cause Carson such a terrible headache that he would let them go, even just for a moment.   
He walked straight into her trap, noticing her eyes closed he went inside her mind, which felt like someone was hitting his head with a frying pan and being in a heavy metal concert next to the stereo sound. Being in pain he let go of the Avengers, Tony called his suits to attack him and Vision started to fire at him. Sebastian rolled over missing Vision’s attack but thanks to Stark’s suits he was too busy defending himself to take over everyone’s mind.  
Steve called agent Hill and she told them to wait for the helicopter on the balcony. Sebastian pulled out a gun and started firing at them.  
“Fall back!” Captain America ordered and everyone went outside except for Vision  
“Where’s Vision?” Natasha asked once the helicopter was visible  
“I’ll go for him” Wanda offered and ran back in. The humanoid was still fighting Carson, she pulled his arm so he would move but he gently pushed her away   
“I’ll stay here” he told her  
She didn’t like to feel like she needed to be protected so she started firing too, less than thirty seconds later, Vision froze again. Wanda had to get closer to Sebastian so she could get a better angle.  
“You are choosing the wrong side” he told her once she was ten feet away  
“Let him go” She ordered  
He laughed and pointed at her with his gun “Or what?”  
She smirked and using her telekinesis she pulled up whatever was lying around and threw it at him, Sebastian moved away but it still hit him, he fired his gun. If it hadn’t been because Wanda slipped accidently, he would have killed her. The bullet hit her shoulder and she fell on her knees, her telekinesis reacted unwillingly and sent Sebastian several feet away. Only then Vision unfroze and flew out carrying Wanda in his arms.


	6. Chapter 6

The bullet had stayed in her shoulder, luckily it hadn’t been too deep but it hurt a lot.  
“Wanda, I need you to not move” Natasha started telling her, they were still in the helicopter but they weren’t near the tower anymore.  
Sam took the twin’s hand so she could press it if it hurt too much and Maria Hill placed her hand on her back so Wanda wouldn’t move. The girl nodded to Natasha.  
The spy nodded to herself and entered two fingers inside the wound. Wanda pressed Sam’s hand and choked a scream, once again her telekinesis reacted and a bunch of things that were lying around the helicopter started floating.  
Natasha had to dig between the blood making Wanda scream in pain, the red head knew that doing things slowly would only make the pain get worse so she harshly entered another finger and pulled the bullet out; the things floated higher for a second and then fell back on the floor. Tony handed them the first aid kit and Natasha took out a bandage and put it on the wound.  
“We need a plan” Steve started saying  
Sam frowned “What we need is to make sure that Wanda is okay, she’s the only one that can put up a fight with him”  
Natasha nodded “We can’t go back to the Avenger’s facility; he’ll search there for us”  
“You need to hide until you have a plan” Hill told them “don’t tell anybody where you are going, not even us, we can’t afford the chance of him reading our minds”   
Tony clapped to get everyone’s attention “He said he only wants us, maybe if we disappear for a while he’ll get bored and let us go”  
Vision shook his head “If we disappear for too long he’ll attack innocent people to get our attention”  
“He wants to torture us” Wanda said, she was beginning to sound weak, she had clearly lost a generous amount of blood “for the little time he wasn’t defending himself I saw his sorrow, he wants someone to feel the loss he does”  
Stark snorted “Poetic” he muttered under his breath, making the twin’s eyes to turn red with fury.  
Captain America noticed and changed the subject “Anyone knows a place where we could hide?”  
Tony raised his hand “I do”  
Maria Hill dropped them next to Brooklyn Bridge, they had to almost run so people wouldn’t recognize them, and Wanda made the people think that they hadn’t actually seen them.  
Tony guided them two blocks away from the bridge, he stopped in front of a small building, it looked old but not abandoned, the wall were full of graffiti. The billionaire walked towards the trash can and moved it away, under it was an old and filthy coupon magazine he opened it and took out a key. “Works every time” he said happily. He walked to the door and unlocked it letting everyone in.  
They all went inside, the air was thick and humid, and the stairs seemed to be covered with dust. Stark locked the door behind him and started walking up the stairs. Steve carried Wanda who was really weak so she didn’t even complain. On the first floor the billionaire opened the door and entered the apartment. Taking to account all of the luxurious stuff he owned this was nothing like that, it looked like a middle class department except for the giant TV in the living room.   
“I bought this like ten years ago, Rhodey’s friend needed money and I had a bunch of it” he explained “I come here from time to time, but I haven’t recently, the only one who knows about here is Pep and she’s in Europe, I sent her a text telling her to not return until further notice”  
Tony opened the windows so fresh air could get in, the sun was going down. Meanwhile Natasha started stitching Wanda’s wound, when she was done Wanda fell asleep almost instantly, not so much because of the physical pain but for being mentally tired. The spy covered her with a blanket.  
Stark lend them all some clothes he and Pepper had there, and Sam went to the store to buy some food. Five minutes he returned with a loaf of bread and two boxes of cookies. When it was night they decided to start eating.  
“Who chose the cookies?” Tony complained after he bit one.  
“Just eat” Natasha ordered  
He rolled his eyes but did “Should we wake up the Maximoff kid?” he said realizing she was still sleeping.  
“I’ll wake her” Vision offered and looked at Tony who shrugged.  
The humanoid went to the couch and shook her gently. Her instinct was grabbing his wrist, but when she opened her eyes she let him go. For a moment she forgot what had happened but looking around the apartment she remembered and sat up rubbing her eyes.  
“Wanda” he called out her name “you need to eat”  
She nodded and walked to the kitchen taking the blanket with her, Wanda’s eyes were still sleepy. She sat down in a chair and Falcon handed her a package of cookies, she opened it and automatically started eating.  
“We need something that can protect our heads from Sebastian” Captain America started saying  
“Like what?” inquired Sam  
Tony clapped his hands “He has a defense system, we could replicate it!”  
Wanda smirked and shook her head, everyone stared at her  
“You have a better idea kid?” Tony snapped   
She was fully awake now, so she gave him a murderous look and explained “He didn’t make his defense system, he was born with it, and we can’t replicate it”  
“How is that possible?” Steve asked confused   
She sighed “He’s a mutant” seeing their blank expressions she explained again “he was born with a mutation that allows him to read minds and have a defense system against someone with the same gift”  
“Are you sure?” Tony asked skeptically   
Wanda nodded “I can distinguish a natural mutation from an experimental” she closed her eyes for a second and added “I was born with a natural and then they implemented on me an experimental one in Sokovia”  
“You are a mutant?” Sam asked almost whispering  
She nodded slowly and went inside Stark’s mind so she could find a place in that apartment where she could get some air. The Maximoff twin got up avoiding eye contact and excused herself; then she walked towards the stairs and followed them up until she was in the roof. It was windy outside; the cool air gave her goosebumps and if it hadn’t been because she was still wearing the blanket she would have had to go back inside. Wanda felt like a freak, she had always been different but until recently she would always say that she had powers because of the experiments, which wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t completely true either. She sat down on the floor with her back pressed against the small balcony of the roof and shut her eyes, she thought about her brother and couldn’t help to smile, after all they were both freaks.


	7. Chapter 7

Once again Wanda woke up in the middle of the street, this time she didn’t even hesitate and ran to Pietro’s house, she knocked the door and waited. He opened the door and she hugged him.  
“Hello Wanda from the other reality” he greeted  
She laughed and they sat on the stairs.  
“How are you?” she asked him   
Pietro shrugged “I’m fine, how about you?”  
Wanda crossed her arms and took a deep breath “I told everyone I was a mutant”  
He put his right hand around her “What did they say?”  
She chuckled “Nothing”  
Pietro sighed and knelt in front of her “I know it’s difficult for you to share that, but what are you afraid of?”  
She didn’t want to answer, but it was probably the fear of being treated like a freak. At times like this she missed him more than ever, Pietro was the only one she could be completely honest with.  
Her brother snorted and as if he had read her mind he said “All the Avengers are freaks Wanda, you fit just fine”  
Wanda laughed, after all he was right. Then she remembered Sebastian Carson and asked Pietro about him, he might be able to help.  
He listened what she told him and advised “You need to protect your thoughts”  
She rolled her eyes “I know that, but with what?”  
Pietro frowned “Stark has a machine that can replicate any metal, ask that for his helmet”  
She bit her lip “Stark doesn’t have that machine and I haven’t seen my father since I was twelve, I doubt I will be able to find him now”  
“You’ll have to, I can’t think of another way to protect your thoughts” he told her  
“What’s his name in the first place?”  
He smirked “His name is Erik Lehnsherr, but he’s better known as Magneto”  
Pietro said that as if it had some sort of power but she didn’t understand it, Wanda didn’t even know why she would ask her dad, a man who had abandoned them and only came back because he wanted to use their gifts, for his helmet. It didn’t sound logical. She started to feel dizzy “I have to go know” she told her brother, he nodded and kissed her forehead  
“Be careful” Pietro said and she went back to reality.  
Steve was sitting next to her “I thought you were sleeping” he commented and handed her a tissue; she realized she had a nosebleed again.  
“Damn it” she muttered and cleaned the blood.  
“Natasha told us about you making other realities, don’t be mad at her, I made her tell us” he told her.  
One part of her was relieved because she was too tired to explain everything to everyone, on the other hand she felt a bit angry Natasha had broken a promise. She sighed and shrugged, that wasn’t so important now after all.  
Steve spoke again “Wanda I trust you, but you can’t keep things like this as a secret, I need you to trust me, to trust us”  
The Maximoff twin nodded “I trust you” he smiled and she continued “I asked my brother for help and he suggested that I should find my father and ask him for his helmet”  
He nodded cheerfully “Okay! Where can we find him?”  
She answered almost whispering “I don’t know”  
He nodded again “Do we have a plan B?”  
She shrugged and guessed “Improvise?”  
Rogers blinked a couple of times “That could actually work”  
Wanda frowned “What do you mean?”  
He took her hand and gently pulled her to her feet “I have an idea”  
They walked down the stairs and gathered everyone on the kitchen.  
“I think I have a plan that can work” Steve started saying  
“Go on” Tony said as he ate a cookie  
“Carson can read our minds because we process our moves but what if we don’t over think?” he said  
Natasha frowned “You mean improvise?”  
He snapped his fingers “Exactly”  
Sam crossed his arms “He’ll still see what we are going to do”  
“Yeah but he will only have a second of advantage” Tony told him “He can’t do much with a second”  
“So what do you think?” Steve asked cheerfully   
Vision nodded “It might work, but if it doesn’t, do we have a second plan?”  
Wanda cleared her throat “We should have to find my father and ask him for help”  
Stark arched his eyebrows “That doesn’t sound bad”  
She looked down “The thing is that I have no idea of where he is, I only know his name”  
“What’s he called?” Vision asked her  
“His name is Erik Lehnsherr, but I think he’s better known as Magneto” Wanda answered, this time she felt how the name sounded powerful  
Tony almost choked on his cookie “Your dad is Magneto?!”   
“Yes, do you know him?” she asked  
Stark snorted “Not personally but he controls metal, imagine if he didn’t like me”  
“Do you know where he could be?” Wanda asked again  
He shook his head “Sorry kid”. Everyone felt as if Stark had broken their only little piece of hope they had left.  
“So we improvise then?” Sam asked  
Captain America nodded “Tomorrow morning we find him and fight, don’t process your moves and we can’t be too close either”  
Natasha sighed “Sounds like a plan” she muttered  
Wanda went to sleep again in the same couch she had passes before and Sam took the other one.  
In the kitchen Steve, Natasha and Tony were still talking, well actually only the super soldier and Romanoff were, Stark was deep in his thoughts; Vision had been acting weird around Wanda, Tony knew that the humanoid possessed artificial intelligence but he had never imagined that Vision could have a crush on someone, specially on the little witch.  
Steve and Natasha were discussing whether Maria Hill was Robin from How I Met your Mother.  
“It can’t be Hill, Steve” Romanoff kept saying.  
“She looks exactly like Robin and even sounds like her!” he snapped  
Natasha snorted “Do you honestly think a secret agent would be in a TV show?”  
Rogers shrugged “I don’t know, maybe she did that to cease suspicions”  
“Steve I don’t think that’s even possible, look why don’t you ask her?”  
“I will” he promised  
Stark entered the conversation “She does actually look like Robin” Steve grinned with satisfaction at Natasha and she rolled her eyes. The billionaire then said “Don’t you think Vision acts weird around Maximoff?”  
Romanoff frowned “What do you mean by weird?”  
Iron Man sighed and explained “I think he likes her”  
Steve snorted and seeing his friends serious and thoughtful faces he coughed “Are you serious?”  
Stark nodded “He’s all sweet and weird around her, do you think she like him?”  
Natasha shrugged “I honestly don’t think it’s something we should be discussing yet, give them time and both of them will realize what they feel”  
“If they feel something in the first place” Steve added   
“Whatever” Tony said “Where’s Vision?”  
“He went to sleep, he took one of the bedrooms” Rogers answered  
“We should probably go to sleep too” Romanoff said yawning  
“There’s only one bed left” Tony said  
“We’ll share” Captain America s told him  
Stark took a step back “Cap I feel flattered but I only have eyes for Pepper”  
Nat chuckled and Rogers rolled his eyes “Only share the bed Stark, believe me it’s not something I want to do”  
The spy yawned again “Well, I’m going to bed you two do whatever you want” she said and left  
“So me, you and Romanoff?” Tony said and took several steps back “Not happening!”  
Steve shrugged, he was too tired for to put up with Tony’s crap. He and Natasha had shared a bed more than one time on their missions and they didn’t mind, after all they were good friends.  
“Goodnight Stark” Rogers said and went to the bedroom  
“There’s no chance I’ll go to sleep there!” Tony yelled  
The super soldier turned off the lights and Stark was left alone in the dark kitchen, the billionaire realized he was really tired so he looked around trying to find a place where he could sleep. Vision had been smart enough to excuse himself earlier so he wouldn’t have to share a bed. Tony lay down on the kitchen table but it was cold and full of cookie crumbs. After 5 minutes full of silence Tony sighed in defeat and went to the bedroom. Steve was on the right side of the bed and Natasha was next to him in the center, they seemed to be sleeping so he took off his shoes and laid down next to the Russian assassin, she and Steve were turned to the right side so Tony turned to the left, he would never mention this to anyone, he would even be willing to pay his teammates for their silence in this matter. Meanwhile Rogers sighed tiredly, Stark was impossible, on the other hand Natasha smirked; she was so going to tell everyone.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony dreamt of Pepper, they were sitting on the couch in their living room while eating strawberries.  
“I thought you were allergic to strawberries” he told her  
Pepper giggled “I only said that to prevent you from eating them”  
“Why?” he asked taking a bite of one  
She looked at him sweetly and said “Because you are allergic”  
Tony tried to spit the fruit but he couldn’t; his nose started to itch. “Pepper” he yelled “Help me!” his girlfriend started laughing.  
Stark woke up to find a ladybug on top of his nose and he screamed, not for being scared of the insect but because for a second he actually thought he had eaten a strawberry.  
Natasha woke up immediately and pulled out a gun from the drawer “What is it?!” she asked  
Tony killed the ladybug and started to scratch his nose. Romanoff saw the dead insect “Really Stark?”  
Wanda and Sam came running to the bedroom, her hair was messy and his eyes were sleepy.  
“Is everything okay?” Sam asked worried  
Steve woke up and seeing everyone in the bedroom he looked at Natasha for an explanation. Vision had also appeared.  
“Stark got scared of a ladybug” she explained  
“I’m not afraid of ladybugs!” Tony yelled  
“What is it then?” Wanda asked  
“I had a nightmare” he answered  
“About ladybugs?” Rogers asked amused  
“Of course not!” the billionaire said “It was about strawberries”  
Everyone sighed, Stark was impossible. Sam was about to go to sleep again when everyone realized it was 2 pm, apparently if it hadn’t been because of Stark’s nightmare they would have spent the whole day sleeping. They suited up with yesterday’s clothes except for Wanda; she put on some of Pepper’s clothes that Tony had offered her. She felt weird in those expensive clothes; they weren’t much for someone like Pepper Potts, just some designer black jeans and a blue silk loose shirt with black buttons. Stark had even offered her some sneakers but she pretended that they didn’t fit her, Wanda had never even had an actual conversation with the billionaire’s girlfriend, so she prefers to wear the boots she had used the day before.  
Maria Hill sent Steve a text, it read ‘he’s at central park waiting for you guys, I hope you have a plan’.  
Steve instructed everyone and the non flying Avengers took a taxi while the other ones flew to Manhattan. In what felt like forever they arrived, everything seemed calm and fortunately there weren’t people around. At the entrance Sebastian stood with what looked like a super gun, just like Stark’s technology, all the Avengers stood in front of him.  
He showed them the weapon “I made this myself, thanks to some things I learned from Stark’s head” he continued “giving the fact that you are all here I suspect you have a plan… or not”  
Tony had a hard time draining his mind, he was always thinking and if he wanted to stop Carson from learning dangerous information he should stop thinking. The billionaire closed his eyes, maybe what he needed to do was to think about something else, something not dangerous, he smiled; Tony thought about the only thing he loved that didn’t include weapons, unless she’s mad and hits you with a bag. Pepper Potts had always caught his eye, at first not in the romantic way but she was always intriguing to him. He remembered how surprised he was when she arrived to the job interview, most of the girls applying looked like super models and they all dressed provocative, Pepper on the other hand had dressed decently, Stark had almost put he in the ‘next’ list but what caught his attention was that she told him that if he actually needed an assistant instead of a hooker he should consider her, in that moment he knew that she was special no one had ever defy him, except for Rhodey. Tony had been in love with her even before he knew it, she was his support; she was his moderator, his friend, his muse, his distraction, his break, his freedom but more importantly the love of his life.  
Sebastian looked at Tony, he thought Stark would be the impulsive one but seeing his calm mind Carson stopped focusing on him. That’s when Tony shot him, Sebastian rolled over and it only hit his leg, the avengers dispersed, they ran around not paying attention so there thoughts wouldn’t be read. Wanda and Vision ran in the same direction, Carson missed by an inch and they fall to the ground, the twin landed on her right side where the wound was, she shouted in pain. Vision helped her up “Don’t move” he ordered and flew straight to Carson and started firing, Falcon started doing the same.   
Unfortunately Sebastian had some associates so Steve and Natasha were dealing with them. Wanda was about to go help them when she realized that Sam and Vision were frozen. Carson was coming for her now so she started walking backwards and she fired at him but he easily moved away, apparently he wasn’t able to freeze her so Wanda kept firing at him, she only stopped when she was on the sidewalk of the street. Sebastian went into her mind and started showing her memories of her parent’s deaths, the pain she had felt during the experiments and Pietro dying. Wanda fell on her knees covering her head. Sebastian pressed the gun to her forehead but he didn’t pull the trigger, he could have killed her in that moment but instead he took a step back. Iron Man appeared and started firing, the people that were walking around started screaming and running away. Carson was shooting at Tony back so Wanda stood up and kicked him, the scientist hadn’t seen that coming so he in anger, punched her face before running 20 feet away so he could get a better angle at Iron Man.  
She expected blood to come out but it didn’t, she only had the permanent pain in her face, Wanda had to blink a few times to focus on the fight, Sebastian was firing at Stark while he kept flying around, unfortunately the people on the street kept coming to the area of the fight so she ran to corner of the opposite sidewalk to warn people to stay away. The scientist looked at her and Wanda felt a drilling in her head, Captain America came from behind him and punched him, Steve froze again but her head was free again. An old man hadn’t realized the fight and started to cross the street. Sebastian fired against Wanda but missed his target; instead it was going to hit the man, the Scarlet Witch saw that and without thinking she pushed herself and the man to the floor. The pavement next to them now had a horrible hole. She helped the man up and seeing how Sebastian fled she asked the man “Are you okay?”  
He nodded “Thank you”  
They looked at each other for a second and she gasped, the man’s face was familiar, he was also staring at her in confusion.  
“Wanda?” he asked in a whisper  
Her whole world felt how it crumbled, the man in front of her had Pietro’s eyes and nose, the man in front of her was her father.  
“You are alive” was all that she managed to say  
For a second Erik smiled but then his face grew dark again “Where is Pietro?” he asked looking around  
Wanda’s face straightened and clenching her teeth she answered “He’s dead”  
Erik looked down and muttered “I’m sorry”  
Her lips began to tremble and before she was able to help it, bitter tears began to fell from her eyes “You didn’t even know your son was dead”  
Magneto’s face continued glued to the floor “Wanda I am sorry for Pietro’s loss” he started “but there’s nothing I can do”  
“Don’t even dare to say his name!” she yelled at him “He told me to give you a second chance; he said you weren’t that bad but I guess he was wrong”  
Erik looked at her, his face was emotionless. Steve was about to go to them but Iron Man stood in front of him “Rogers, that’s Magneto over there”  
Erik saw the Avengers “You let down my offer only to turn into one of the heroes?” he asked  
Wanda’s eyes flashed red “You have no right to even talk about my life’s choices, you let us starve in the streets, you are a selfish lame excuse of a man!”  
“I won’t deny it or excuse it” he accepted “Believe me or not I have never been able to live in peace because of that, but you have to understand I could not go for you and your brother”  
“Liar” she said “you didn’t go for us because you were scared your followers would think you were weak, you can’t lie to me, I can see your mind”  
Her father took a step back “I thought you only had telekinesis”  
“Not anymore” she said and snorted “Even now you only think about how my gift could be useful for you. I was stupid by thinking you would be willing to help me this time”  
“Help you?” he asked “In which way?”  
Wand shook her head “Forget it, I don’t want anything from you” he started crying again “Pietro would have named his son after you and you… you didn’t even know about his death”  
Magneto looked down again and she whipped the tears of her face and left him standing in the middle of the street. She hadn’t needed him so far, why would she start to do it now?


	9. Chapter 9

Normally the Avengers would celebrate after winning a fight but this time they walked to their hiding place without exchanging a Word, everyone tried their best, but how were they supposed to beat someone that would read their thoughts?  
Sam had a burn on his left arm but it was nothing Natasha couldn’t fix within 10 minutes.  
Stark called Pepper to check on her. Steve locked himself in the bedroom feeling guilty; he had let down his team and he tried to think of a better plan but nothing came to his mind. Vision seemed relaxed or at least he appeared to be, he knew blaming himself or his teammates was irrelevant and useless.  
Wanda went to the roof; she locked the door and leaned her head on the balcony. Her eyes were too tired to keep crying, she didn’t need tears anymore, it was as if she had ran out of water in her body, Wanda’s throat and mouth felt dry. She felt more alone than usual, she missed her brother but she was too tired to visit him. She lay down on the cold and dusty floor and closed her eyes. When she started living in the Avenger’s facility she had more than once preferred to sleep on the couch than on the bed. In Sokovia her brother and she had lived in the streets for a couple of years. In winter time they would sleep on abandoned buildings. They didn’t have anything but each other and that was far more than what Wanda had at the moment. The twins had been practically always alone; they had learned to survive since they were ten, why would she need a father now?  
Wanda fell asleep, it felt like she had taken a 5 minute nap but when she woke up the sunset was over and the sky had a bluish color but there was still a bit of light. Apparently no one had come up to find her so she decided to stay there; she stood up and shook off the dust of her clothes. Wanda rested her elbows on the balcony and looked at the city, the Brooklyn Bridge was full of cars and the lights decorated the city. Someone was behind her; she thought it was probably Vision because he was the only Avenger who didn’t make much noise.  
“You came to check on me?” she asked half joking  
“Yes” Erik answered  
She clenched her fists and turned to him “What do you want?”  
Erik looked down, he had a helmet on in difference with earlier, she remembered what Pietro had told her, maybe there was a way she could steal it from him.  
“You mentioned you needed my help” he started saying  
Wanda’s eyes flashed red and he continued “I cannot undo the damage I have caused you and believe me or not I do regret it”  
She snorted and tried to go in his mind but she couldn’t, there was some kind of shield, she had no problem earlier, what had changed? Her expression softened the helmet is the shield she answered herself.  
“What are you doing here?” she asked him  
Magneto sighed and walked towards her; he stood next to her and leaned on the balcony too. “There is no way you could never forgive me, I know that” he said and Wanda nodded “I am old Wanda and I have a lot of guilt and unfinished business, I don’t want you to be another one in my long list”  
This time she made eye contact and her eyes betrayed her and she started sobbing “What do you want?” she asked again slowly “you want me to call you dad?”  
Her father shook his head “I want to help you this time; I would like to do something for you even if it doesn’t change your mind about me. Believe me; I don’t expect you to even thank me. Wanda let me be a father just for a small moment, let me be the father I never was but the one you and Pietro deserved”  
She let out the breath she was holding and looked at his eyes, he looked desperate, desperate for forgiveness and she was desperate too, desperate for being able to forgive.  
“Well then, I need your helmet” she told him dryly  
He arched his eyebrows and she shrugged “That’s what I need from you, are you willing to help me with that or are you just going to walk away again?”  
Erik closed his eyes and Wanda snorted, she looked the other way now, at least she tried to get the helmet.  
“Use it wisely” he answered. She turned surprised to him and he handed her the helmet, she took it gently. He smiled shyly and flew away.  
Wanda was so shocked by the fact that Magneto had actually given her the helmet that she grinned and went down the stairs running.  
The avengers were gathered around the kitchen table trying to think of a plan, but nothing came to their minds do they were just grumpy and exhausted.  
Steve frowned seeing Wanda smiling with her hands behind her back, everyone else was also confused.  
“What happened?” Natasha asked  
“Nothing” she answered trying to hide her happiness but failing   
“Did you drink or take anything?” Tony asked  
Wanda rolled and showed them the helmet grinning  
“Nice!” Stark said with sarcasm “You bought a hat, which will surely be useful”  
“Seriously?” she asked them “you don’t know what this means?”  
They shook their heads “You have a bad taste for accessories?” Romanoff guessed  
Wanda rolled her eyes again and put the helmet on Sam’s head “Think of something” she ordered  
“Okay…” he answered  
She went next to him and starting doing the same she had done to the Avengers when she was on Ultron’s side.  
“What are you doing?!” Stark yelled  
She ignored the comment “Do you feel different Sam?” she asked Falcon  
He shook his head “Not really, was I supposed to?”  
Natasha gasped realizing what the helmet meant “How did you get it?”  
Wanda cleared her throat “My father gave it to me” she answered and everyone nodded, she didn’t want to answer questions and no one made them.


	10. Chapter 10

Sebastian hadn’t been defeated but at least they had time to rest and prepare themselves so they returned to the facility, Carson had only been there one time and seeing that the Avengers weren’t there he didn’t return.  
“There is only one helmet” Maria Hill pointed out, they were sitting in their living room “I am no mathematician but unless you have at least one more of those we are pretty screwed”  
“I love how you are always so positive” Stark said with sarcasm  
“She’s right though” Steve told him   
“Meanwhile we should prepare ourselves for the fight” Sam told them  
Everyone nodded, Steve opened his mouth “Hill, can I ask you a question?”  
Natasha face palmed, Rogers was going to actually ask her  
“Sure Cap” the agent told him  
“Is there any chance you are Robin from How I met your mother?” the super soldier asked  
She smirked “No”  
“Are you sure?” Tony asked  
“Yes” she answered again and before leaving she told them they had around 15 or 20 hours to prepare themselves  
“Who is Robin?” Vision asked but no one answered  
“Stark” Wanda started saying “is there any chance that you have a machine that can replicate metal?”  
He frowned “No”  
She tried again “If I could tell you how to make one, could you do it?”  
The billionaire shrugged “I guess but I should really take a look at it”  
She bit her lip  
“Do you have a plan?” Natasha asked her   
She nodded “Maybe I can take him to the other reality”  
He got up “You taking me God knows where?! No thanks”  
Steve sighed “Tony, we don’t have much choice”  
The billionaire frowned and stared at Wanda “How can I know you are worthy of my trust?”  
She shrugged “You’ll have to trust me blindly or we won’t have a chance with Sebastian”  
He stood silent for a couple of minutes “Fine! But Cap has to stay here waiting for us”  
Captain America arched his eyebrows but nodded “Sure, whatever”  
Wanda reached for Stark’s hand and he took it, they sat on the couch “Close your eyes” she ordered, he sighed but obeyed.  
She shut her eyes and tried to focus, this time it was 10 times worse than when she was alone, she could have even promised that her head would explode any time. The pain stopped and she opened her eyes, he let go Tony’s hand and he opened his eyes too. They both had appeared in front of Pietro’s house.  
“Sh*t” Stark let out “A part of me thought you were just playing a joke”  
She rolled her eyes and knocked on the door, her brother opened it.  
“YOU DIED!!” Tony yelled  
Pietro frowned at Wanda “You brought him here?”  
“I had to” she excused herself “I need you to take us to his house or wherever he has that metal replicator machine”  
He nodded and pointed at his car. At first the ride was silent; Tony was still shocked so he didn’t say a word which was weird.  
“You found dad?” Pietro asked his sister  
She nodded “He gave me the helmet”  
He smiled “I told you he wasn’t such a jerk”  
“Please tell me Pepper is alive here” Stark asked almost yelling  
Pietro nodded “She is, and so is your daughter”  
The billionaire almost choked on his own saliva “I have a daughter?!”  
“Yes” He answered  
“What’s her name?” Tony asked  
“Zoe” Quicksilver answered, he felt uncomfortable with that fact that Stark didn’t even know his daughter’s name  
“Can I see her?” he asked Wanda  
She shook her head “We don’t have that much time” she answered  
The billionaire nodded and sat back, three minutes later they saw a tall building with a huge sign that read STARK  
Pietro left them at the entrance  
“Okay, how are we going to get in?” Wanda asked out loud  
A guard saw them “Mr. Stark! Come in please”  
He smirked and Wanda followed  
Stark read the guard’s name label “Chris, remind me where my metal replicator machine is”  
Chris smiled “Second floor to the left Sir”  
“Thank you” he said and they took the elevator “This is fun” he commented and she couldn’t help but to laugh. The elevator stopped and they followed Chris’s instructions, luckily there wasn’t anyone else in the room.  
“JARVIS?” Tony asked unsure  
“Yes Sir?” The AI answered  
Wanda got goosebumps hearing Vision’s voice, it was too weird.  
He smiled “Show me the plans for this machine, please”  
“As you wish Sir” JARVIS said and the plans appeared in a TV Screen  
Tony concentrated and after ten minutes he had memorized them “Let’s go” he said   
They were about to wake up when a woman entered the room “Tony, what are you doing here?” she asked  
They turned to the woman and saw Pepper with a girl about 17 with Stark’s hair color and eyes “Pepper” he let out and before Wanda could pull him away he ran to his girlfriend and hugged her tightly “I missed you so much” he told her  
She frowned “You only went to the store”  
He let her go and hugged the girl “Zoe” he said in a whisper  
“Are you okay dad?” the girl asked  
Tony took a step back and kissed Zoe’s forehead “I love you” his eyes were full of tears  
Wanda never thought she could get to see the powerful Iron Man crying “Stark we have to go now” she said  
He nodded and taking one last glance at them they went out the room and entered the elevator “We should go now” he said almost in a whisper looking at the floor  
Wanda nodded and patted his back, he looked at her and smile.


	11. Chapter 11

As soon as they returned Stark started to build the machine, Vision was helping him, but Tony missed Banner; working with the humanoid was okay but working with Bruce was amazing, they complemented each other. Tony was relieved he had something to do because he honestly wanted to get Zoe out of his mind. He never had considered having children but seeing his daughter in flesh he kind of regretted not having one, he had never even asked Pepper about it.  
At 4 am he was done and went to sleep for a while, Vision on the contrary went outside to have a small walk, he was rather surprised when he saw the Scarlet Witch sitting under wearing Magneto’s helmet, and he walked towards her.  
“Do you mind if I sit?” Vision asked  
She shook her head and he sat next to her “Are you alright?” he asked  
“Not really” she answered “I didn’t even know my father was alive and frankly didn’t want to know, but now he comes and tells me he wants to make things right”  
Vision looked at her “Why are you angry at him? I am new to human relations”  
Wanda let out a small smile and started saying “I never knew why my actual mother and father left Pietro and I. After doing a little research when we were about 17, we found out our mother was dead. We couldn’t have had better parents than the Maximoff’s; they raised us and loved us even if it wasn’t their job”  
For some reason Wanda felt that she could trust Vision, he was a good listener and friend. She continued “After my parents died Pietro and I had to live in the streets, we would steal and beg for food. Erik finally introduced himself to us when we were twelve. I remember we were in a fair; my brother was searching for coins on the floor while I stared at a Popsicle in a food stand hoping the owner would give it to me because of feeling pity but he only threw me away”  
The humanoid was rather impressed “I had no idea” he told her  
She smiled weakly “No one has” the sky started to turn into a light blue color.   
Wanda cleared her throat “Anyways, I started looking for Pietro so we could leave. A man placed his hand on my shoulder so I turned around hoping to find my brother but I saw a tall man wearing a helmet” she pointed at the one she was wearing “he smiled to me kindly and took my hand, he had something in his eyes that gave me trust, he took me to the stand I had been to earlier and bought the candy for me, I honestly thought he was some sort of angel, I feel stupid saying that out loud” she chuckled  
He shook his head “You sound human not stupid”  
“Is that an insult or a compliment?” She joked  
He smiled and she continued “Pietro found me, and he immediately asked the man who the hell he was. Erik smiled to us and said something like ‘I am your father and I have come for you’. I remember thinking we were finally safe until he told us about his mutant’s army and how he could use our help so I mentioned my telekinesis and he offered me a position with him. My brother realized then that he hadn’t come back for his children, he came back for weapons. Pietro hated him, he told Erik to go away and assured me we didn’t need him, my father nodded and left, that’s when I understood Pietro was right, if my father had actually wanted us back he would have fought for us” Wanda sighed “I hope that helps you understand human relations”  
The humanoid smiled “Thank you for telling me this Wanda”  
She nodded “Thanks for listening”  
Vision turned completely to her and said “You are the bravest and strongest person I have met”  
The twin smiled “And you are the bravest and strongest humanoid I have met”  
He chuckled and got up “I’ll walk you to your bedroom”  
She nodded and followed “Thanks, I was worried about getting lost” she joked


	12. Chapter 12

Natasha checked on Hill at 7 am to ask if Sebastian had recovered from the fight but the agent told her that they still had time to rest. There’s nothing better than running in the early morning so the spy decided to use her rest time in that; it was when she had her alone time, time to think about nonsense so when the fight would come she could focus properly, which hadn’t been easy lately. Bruce Banner wouldn’t leave her mind no matter how hard she tried.  
The spy had never had a good history with love. She had been mistreated since she was a child, trained to become a weapon and a monster. She had never told anyone that she wasn’t able to have kids, no one but Bruce. When she had first met him he was silent and mysterious he didn’t trust anyone, but as she got to know him she could see how he was a wonderful person with a horrible past, but so was she. They say people who are broken can’t be with a normal person, but they were both broken, Natasha had hoped that they could fix each other but when Bruce left, her heart was broken. She knew that he left to protect her but to hell with that! She was surer to be much more dangerous than him; yes he turns into a huge green angry monster that can’t control himself but she is an expert in manipulation, if she wanted to she could make anyone trust her and then betray them, she had consciously killed a lot f people. If anyone was a monster it was her.   
Natasha’s phone rang and she stopped running “Yeah?” she answered  
“It’s Steve, come to the living room, Stark just finished making the helmets” He told her  
“Okay” she answered and hanged up  
Natasha ran back to the facility and had a quick shower before joining the Avengers in the living room.  
Sam was making Wanda laugh on the kitchen table while Vision stared at Falcon trying to understand the jokes, Steve was chatting with Stark and Hill was listening to their conversation. Natasha cleared her throat.  
Stark looked at her “Romanoff, come have a look at the helmets”  
She walked to him and saw 6 helmets on the couch “You aren’t going to wear the suit?” she asked him  
He nodded “I am, the sixth one is for Hill” The rest of the Avengers walked towards them.  
“Which one is mine?” Falcon asked looking at them; they all looked like Captain America’s mask but with metal, except for the original one.  
Stark shrugged “Any you like, except for the original, Maximoff is using that one”  
The spy looked at her friend, she thought Wanda hated Magneto; she really needed to have a chat with her.  
Sam took one and put it on “Do I look intimidating?” he asked excitedly  
“No, you look ridiculous” Wanda told him  
Everyone laughed but Falcon arched his eyebrows “You think you can look scary with one?”  
She smirked “Oh I do” and went to get her father’s helmet, she put it on and her eyes flashed red  
Sam took a step back “Okay okay, you win”  
She smiled.  
“You made a suit, Stark?” Natasha asked him  
He nodded “Yep, to be fair I took one of my old ones and bathed it in with the metal. We tested it and it worked”  
Steve turned to Hill “Have you heard anything about Sebastian?”  
She shook her head “Not yet but he won’t take too long to come back”  
He nodded “Thanks”  
Natasha knew Steve was still obsessed with the idea that Maria was Robin from How I met your mother. She had to accept that the agent did actually look like Robin but it was almost impossible that it was true.  
“You never thought about acting?” the super soldier asked Maria Hill  
She rolled her eyes “Steve, for the fifth time I’m not Robin”  
He nodded “Just checking”  
Agent Hill sighed and left.  
“Who is Robin?” Vision asked again  
Natasha turned on the TV “Sam, please put on How I met your mother”  
He nodded. The avengers sat down and started watching the show.  
“How many episodes is this?” Wanda asked  
“208 episodes of half an hour” Tony answered  
She almost choked “208 episodes to tell his children how he met their mother?!”  
“Basically” he said “That’s why I prefer to watch Friends”  
“You watch your Friends?” Vision asked confused  
Even Steve face palmed, only Wanda and the humanoid didn’t know about American TV shows.  
Stark stood up “Vision, Wanda, you are going to learn today” he said in a serious tone “Rogers make some popcorn while I put on Friends”  
The soldier nodded, he liked not being the ignorant one this time (at least in this matter).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that kids it’s the story of how Vision and Wanda met Tony’s friends: Chandler, Joey, Monica, Rachel, Ross and Phoebe. While Sam fell asleep because he liked more Grey’s Anatomy, but don’t tell anyone I told you.


	13. Chapter 13

Apparently watching a marathon of a series that has episodes makes you sleepy, even if it’s Friends. Wanda ended up leaning her head against Vision’s shoulder while Sam sat on the floor resting his head on her legs, Natasha had her feet on Captain’s lap and her head on the Scarlet Witch’s right arm. Tony on the other hand only decided to take a quick nap when he realized everyone else was sleeping.  
“Guys!” A voice woke them up  
Instantly everyone opened their eyes and got up  
“What is it agent?” Tony asked rubbing his eyes  
“Carson is at the Elli’s island; I’ll take you there and wait for you on the air” she told them  
The avengers nodded and ran to suit up, then met at the living room to get their helmets and went into the quinjet; Iron Man would meet them there.  
Maria Hill was flying the vehicle and everyone stood silent.  
This was the first big battle Wanda would fight alongside the Avengers since she became one (not taking into account Sokovia) and she was panicking so she closed her eyes and decided to pay her brother a quick visit.  
She knocked on his door and little Erik opened.  
“Hey!” she grinned to the boy  
He smiled shyly and called “Dad!”  
Pietro appeared a second later making his son laugh, Erik lifted his arms to him and his father carried him.  
“Let me guess, you are my other sister” he told her  
“Yep” she answered  
“Is everything okay?” Pietro asked  
“Yes. Why wouldn’t things be all right?” she said  
He snorted “You visit me when you are upset”  
“No I don’t!” she told him “Well sometimes, but usually is because I miss you and now there is a possibility that I might…”  
Wanda was going to say die but her nephew was staring at her, anyways Pietro understood her, he changed his playful face into a serious one.  
“Don’t worry you’ll be fine” he assured her  
She nodded and choked a sob, Erik reached for her and gently caressed her cheek, and Wanda smiled sadly and hugged both her brother and nephew.  
“I’m always with you” Pietro whispered in her ear  
“I know “she said back “I love you both” she told them and went back to reality.  
She thought no one had noticed, thankfully she hadn’t bled, but Natasha arched her eyebrows at her, she asked “Tell me Wanda, what happens to us in the other reality?”  
The twin cleared her throat “The avengers broke apart”  
Steve almost screamed “Why?!”  
She looked at her shoes “Instead of Pietro dying, Clint did”  
Natasha felt as if someone slapped her, she couldn’t bear the idea of her best friend dying, in this reality or another. “What happens to us?” she asked again  
Wanda blushed “You and Steve are engaged”  
The super soldier snorted and Romanoff smirked “Really?”  
She nodded and the spy said “Well I am flattered”  
Steve arched his eyebrows at her and Natasha winked   
“What about Thor?” Sam asked  
“He rules his planet” she answered “I don’t know what happens to you though”  
He smiled “No problem, you know me; I don’t really want to know”  
“And Bruce?” At plain sight it sounded like a vague question but if you really knew Natasha you could sense her worried tone  
“He also left” her friend answered  
“Am I there too?” Vision asked  
Wanda blushed three times worse but hoped no one could see it underneath that helmet “Yes”  
“What happens to me?” he asked again  
She shrugged and lied “I don’t know I’m sorry”  
He nodded but Natasha frowned “Are you sure you don’t know?”  
The Scarlet Witch shot her a glance “Yes I’m sure”  
The spy didn’t give up “Really?”  
Wanda made her a discrete sign for her to take the helmet off, when she did, the twin sent her a telepathic message Stop it! I’ll tell you later and Natasha nodded in agreement.  
“Guys we are here” Hill told them they nodded and she left them next to the Statue of Liberty  
Steve looked up and saw Stark flying towards them, when he arrived Captain America nodded to himself “Okay, so this is what we are going to do. Tony and Vision you will fly around to look for Sebastian, Sam you will stay in the statue of liberty, you’ll be our eyes up there and finally Romanoff and Wanda stay with me, we’ll take him down here”  
Stark snorted “Okay but wouldn’t it be more easy for us to defeat him now? The only advantage he had was mind reading but now we have –“  
An explosion cut him off, the tourists that had been taking pictures of them and staring ran away and screamed.  
“There’s your answer” Natasha told the billionaire.  
“Go to your positions!” Captain America ordered  
The flying Avengers obeyed. “Wanda, cover our backs” he ordered her.  
The twin nodded and turned behind her while Steve and Romanoff started to search for the scientist. She prepared her energy powers and instantly her eyes flashed red. She searched around her but saw nothing, maybe it was a trap.  
“Cap, what can you see?” she asked  
But she didn’t receive an answer, suddenly she was afraid to turn her back, but tried to calm herself down, maybe Steve hadn’t heard her.  
“Natasha?” she called, her voice came out broken “Natasha, what can you see?”  
Still no answer, her heartbeat had increased and she assumed it wasn’t a good sign, her breath trembled and she turned around slowly. There was no one, not a soul. She looked up and caught a glance of Iron Man’s suit. She tried calling him from her microphone but it didn’t work.  
Maybe Natasha and Steve had found him and ran to him without her noticing, she kept telling herself. Wanda decided that staying there like an idiot wouldn’t be helpful so she remembered that Sam would be inside the Statue of Liberty so she ran towards it and started going up the stairs, she decided to not run, because if she did she would only get more tired; at least that was before she heard footsteps just a floor beneath her so she ran as fast as she could, the shot of adrenaline made her faster than usual, the person below her also started running faster.  
Before she could even take a break she was on the top of the statue.  
“Are you okay?” Sam asked worried  
She was out of breath but shook her head violently and something like “Steve, Natasha, gone” came out  
Sam patted her back “I’ll look for them while you get some rest”  
She shook her head again “Someone was following me” she said  
Falcon sighed and nodded, he looked more scared than she did.  
He slowly went to the door and took a quick peak and spelled with his mouth It´s clear, she should have felt relieved and think hearing the footsteps were just her imagination but something inside her told her to run, move Sam from the damn door and run, but she didn’t, she would have but in a blink someone pulled Falcon out   
“Sam!” she yelled and went for him.  
A guy with robber’s mask was strangling him so she shot the man with her powers. He flew meters away and she knelt next to her friend  
“Are you okay?!” she asked  
He nodded “Although I almost wet my pants”  
She laughed and helped him up “We need to tell Stark and Vision, try calling them, my microphone is dead”  
Sam nodded “Stark?” he called trough his communicator but instead of an answer he heard a piercing sound and took it off “It’ broken” he told her  
Wanda nodded “Plan B, we stick together”  
“Thank God!” he said “I was scared you might say we should split”  
She snorted “I’m too scared to say that”  
He laughed “See? That’s why we are friends, if it had been Steve and Romanoff they would have surely and illogically split”  
Wanda nodded “Yep, that’s why we are friends, by the way, you don’t look so ridiculous in the helmet”  
Sam smiled “Of course I do!”


	14. Chapter 14

They found a janitor’s closet that had a conduct to take you outside the Statue of Liberty for maintenance.  
“Stay here” Sam told her  
She bit her lip but nodded.  
“I’ll be fine; it will only 10 minutes top. I’ll go up there and find Vision and Stark, and then I will come back through this same conduct so stay here, okay?”  
“I’ll cover you” she told him  
Sam let out a small smile and went into the conduct  
Wanda shouldn’t have felt scared; if someone tried to attack her she could easily shoot back, but this was much worse. Captain Freaking America and super assassin Black Widow had disappeared, what was she next to them? Besides she was new to mental control, well new to being the victim.  
She closed the door and kept looking at it in case someone tried to break in. Sam would be back any minute now, she kept telling herself. If her calculations were right he had left over 9 minutes now, or maybe it was just a feeling, anyways he was taking a lot longer than she had expected.  
“Wanda?” Natasha called from outside “Wanda, where are you?”  
She felt her heartbeat increase, Romanoff was outside but her voice sounded distant, what if it was a trap?  
The Scarlet Witch tip toed to the conduct and called “Sam”  
She wasn’t going out until she got an answer, which was highly unlikely.  
“Wanda!” the spy called again, but this time it sounded further away  
Her heart shrunk, Natasha was out there, most likely as a zombie for Sebastian. She wasn’t going to let her friend stay in that condition, but she also wouldn’t take the risk of being captured with no one knowing. If Natasha was his minion Wanda would have to fight her and she wasn’t going to use her powers against her ever again, and if they fought hand to hand she stood no chance whatsoever.  
“Wanda?” Captain America called from the conduct  
She almost cried “Yes! It’s me, I’m trapped, how’s Natasha?”  
Steve’s voice came out in a whisper “Carson took our helmets, I got mine back but Natasha disappeared, it’s most likely she’s being controlled. Stay there, Carson has some minions, probably HYDRA agents”  
“I can’t let her stay like a zombie!” Wanda protested  
“If you go outside, you are going to get your ass kicked by her and the team can’t lose another one for now, not you”  
The spy’s footsteps became louder, she was near the door.  
“Sorry Steve” the twin said “She’s my friend, and that’s the least I can do for her”  
She assumed Rogers answered but she didn’t hear, she opened the door and found Romanoff standing in the middle of the place with a distant look.  
“Where’s Sebastian?” Wanda asked “I want to speak directly to him”  
Natasha stiffened and he entered the room “Very well, I am here”  
He had smirk on his face but he still didn’t look scary, he looked out of place with an evil sparkle on his eyes but his physical looked like a normal person and he had worry wrinkles that only made you feel pity for him.  
“What is that you really want?” she asked dryly  
He arched his eyebrows “You didn’t buy my tragic story?”  
“I don’t do it know”  
He nodded “My wife dying is true but what I really want from all of the Avengers is their condition, meaning your mutants gene, even if they are not natural. What I want is to end wars. Let’s go back to the Cold War for a minute, shall we? Nor the part in which your father took part of” she took a step back and he smiled “Yes, I know who your father is but that’s not my point, what I’m trying to say is that two powerful countries were on the verge of nuclear war, it never happened but a lot of years passed and they kept threatening each other, innocent people’s lives were risked and why? Because two guys wanted to fight. If I have superpowers all of that will end”  
“At what cost?” Star asked, he Sam, Vision and Steve appeared from the janitor’s room, they still had their helmets  
Sebastian grinned “I am so happy you could join us, anyways it’s a good question Mr. Stark, the cost is their own lives”  
“You mean you want to kill the president?” Sam inquired  
Carson shrugged “The countries leaders should be the ones to pay”  
Steve stood next to Wanda “What you want is anarchy”  
Stark snorted “Not anarchy, an empire, his empire”  
Sebastian laughed “It’s not as dramatic as it sounds”  
“Well I’ve got news for you, we are not going to let that happen” Steve told him  
Wanda looked at Natasha, if she could him to be distracted she could run to her friend and put her the helmet so she pretended to be sick and fell on her knees, Steve knelt next to her. “Are you okay?” he asked  
She whispered in his ear “Make a diversion” and got up again “I’m fine” she told everyone  
The super soldier stood in front of Carson “If you plan to control the world at least fight with me like a real man”  
He laughed “I do not fancy getting my hands dirty”  
Steve clenched his fists “I’ll let you have the first punch” and he looked at Wanda meaning If you are going to do something, do it now.  
He shrugged “Fine” and hit Steve’s face  
Wanda ran to Natasha and put her Magneto’s helmet; she went back to reality and ran next to Sam.  
Sebastian groaned “Nice play”  
Steve took a step back and the rest of the Avengers formed a line.  
“Let me give you an advice” Tony started saying “Don’t mess with us”  
“Too late” Sebastian said, he looked at Wanda and she fell on her knees in pain, her took her by the arm and flew away rapidly.  
“Go get her!” Natasha yelled  
Vision, Stark and Falcon flew away  
“Call Maria” she told Steve  
He nodded


	15. Chapter 15

The fact that the quinjet didn’t make noise bothered Natasha, when she was worried she needed noise, in some strange way it relaxed her and helped her think. The microphones had been damaged by the helmet’s metal. Hill ran some tests on Carson’s agents and found out they did belong to HYDRA and now he was gone with Wanda, he must had a hiding place because Iron Man and Vision lost track of him, Falcon even checked the entire Elli’s island twice and found nothing. Now the Avengers flew back to the facility worried and defeated.  
“We’ll get her back” Steve kept saying  
Sam started biting his nails and Stark had his eyes glues to the floor, Natasha covered her face with both of her hands and Vision walked in circles  
The facility was full of agents; most of them were looking restlessly for Carson. When they arrived to their part of the building, Steve and Vision excused themselves to their respective bedrooms and the remaining Avengers sat on the kitchen table including Maria Hill, they were explaining her Sebastian’s plans.  
“He’s trying to get our mutant genes and by ‘our’ I mean Steve’s and Wanda’s” Tony said  
“Good thing Bruce isn’t here” Natasha said in a whisper  
Hill bit her lip “Let’s hope Maximoff doesn’t get convinced to cooperate”  
The three of them stared at her  
“Excuse me?” Sam said  
Maria cleared her throat “She was against you not even too while ago, are you sure you can trust her?”  
Stark smirked “We’ll pretend you never said that”  
She frowned at him “Do you trust her?”  
He snorted “To be honest I didn’t but she has proved to be worthy of my trust, she and I aren’t exactly friends but I surely don’t want anything to happen to her”  
“She’s my friend and I know she won’t betray us” Falcon added  
The agent looked at Natasha “What about you?”  
She sighed “I shouldn’t but I do, I have been where she is”  
Hill arched her eyebrows “What about the mind controlling thing she did to you and Banner, did you forgive that?”  
The spy stood up “If you don’t know my past, which I doubt, I will remind you that I also did a lot of bad things. I did them because I didn’t know another way around, because people kept telling me that was my purpose in life but someone opened my eyes, he trusted in me when no one else did, not even me. Doing the same for another person is the least I can do. She is changed, she was forced to do bad things to us, she has suffered a lot and she just saved my life by risking hers so yeah, I do trust her and I don’t blame her for what happened with Bruce nor I will ever do”  
The agent looked down “I’m sorry”  
“I’ll pretend this conversation never happened” Natasha told her  
“Good talk Robin” Stark told her sarcastically  
“I have a plan” Romanoff said  
“What’s the plan?” Sam asked  
“We need someone else on the team” she answered  
Stark snorted “Who exactly?”  
She smiled and ran to the facility where all the agents were looking for Sebastian, she stopped at a computer and whispered the agent using it a name  
The avengers ran behind her, Sam poked her shoulder “Who did you look for?”  
She smirked and said “Magneto”  
Tony pretended to pass out, or did he really pass out?


	16. Chapter 16

Natasha, Sam, Steve and a scared Tony walked into a small café, it was sunny and people chatted with each other happily.   
A waiter came to them, at the moment they were all wearing normal clothes to blend in and Stark had dark sunglasses.  
“Can I get you anything?” The waiter asked  
“No thanks” Steve answered  
The guy frowned at him and Natasha stepped in  
“We came here to meet up with a friend” she explained  
The waiter smiled and nodded before walking away  
The avengers looked around searching for Erik.  
“He probably left” Tony said relived  
Sam shook his head “Found him”  
They turned to Falcon and he pointed at a man reading a newspaper.  
“What’s the plan?” Stark asked “walking up to him and being like ‘help us or your kid is screwed’?”  
Natasha shrugged “Pretty much”  
She walked towards him and the Avengers followed. When they finally arrived to his table he didn’t look at them so she had to clear her throat twice to get his attention  
He looked at her without putting the newspaper down. “Yes?” he asked clearly annoyed  
Romanoff smiled kindly to him “Sir, we are Wanda’s friends and we need your help to-“  
Magneto cut her off “What happened to her?” he asked neutrally  
Steve spoke this time “That’s why we need your help. A man called Sebastian Carson has kidnapped her”  
Erik put the newspaper down “What do you want?”  
Stark frowned “We can’t take Sebastian down; we were hoping you could help”  
He laughed “You honestly think I would be willing to help a bunch of people that pretend to be something they are not?”  
“Your daughter is in danger” Sam said calmly  
He looked down at his coffee and controlled the spoon with his mind to mix the beverage, Stark gulp loudly “I gave her my helmet” Erik said  
“She need more than a helmet” Tony let out  
Magneto looked at him and broke his glasses with his powers.  
Stark sighed and picked them up from the floor.  
The spy opened the backpack she had been carrying and pulled out his helmet and placed it aggressively on the table “There’s your helmet”  
He looked at it but didn’t move.  
“You have a chance to win your daughter back” Natasha added “One last chance. If you take it, you can help us to defeat Sebastian and probably save what’s left of your relationship with her. If you turn down our offer we’ll leave you alone and fight on our own and if we succeed I doubt Wanda will look for you again”  
Magneto rubbed his temples and sighed, he finally answered “I can’t. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a coffee to finish”  
She was about to protest but Steve pulled her arm gently “Let’s leave” he whispered  
Natasha opened her mouth but closed it. Then they started walking towards the exit  
The waiter saw them “OH MY GOSH IT’ TONY STARK” he yelled  
Then they had to run from the people that tried taking photos of them.  
“Stupid Magneto” Tony said as they ran from the people “I really liked those glasses”


	17. Chapter 17

Wanda clenched her teeth she was having the worst headache ever and saying that is a lot. On the HYDRA experiments her whole body and mind hurt at the beginning and now she felt the same way. Even though she could fly Sebastian was now drilling her mind, she had no physical pain but she could have promised her head was about to explode.  
“It looks like you are alone now” He started telling her “Your friends aren’t anywhere to be seen”  
Carson had made it looked like he flew away with her, but he only went around in circles and returned to a secret room in the statue of liberty.  
“You tricked them” she said back  
Sebastian arched his eyebrows at her in a threatening way. Would you like me to make the pain worse? He said in her mind. She hesitated for a second and he drilled her mind again. Wanda shut her eyes “Stop, please” she begged in a whisper  
He smirked satisfied with his torture. He pulled a chair and sat in front of her knelt form. He started saying “We could have avoided all of this Wanda; we could have been a team” she stared back at him with her eyes flashing red. Sebastian chuckled “You know I could still take you in the team. I already have some very effective HYDRA agents, but we both know that they are not much really. So what do you say?”  
He sounded like an excited child that needs more people so he can play a game board and Wanda was not proud to admit that even for a fraction of second she consider the possibility of joining him. She doubted that the Avengers weren’t looking for her but she couldn’t help to feel that she wouldn’t be exactly missed by most of them; sure they were her friends but she still felt out of place, Wanda had only been on their team less than a year and still Maria Hill didn’t trust her, to be honest only Clint did after the fight, he convinced every Avenger that she was on the team and right now Sebastian kept, apart from drilling her mind showing her how Pietro had died over and over again, he was her support, he would tell her everything would be all right but now she only had herself and that wasn’t reassuring, Carson had reopened the wound and this time it felt a lot worse.  
After what felt like 5 minutes she shook her head “I’d prefer to die”  
He shrugged “As you wish. But it’s not that simple, I actually do need your blood and to run some tests we need a big amount of it and it will hurt a lot more than this”  
He stared at her, waiting for Wanda to give up and be on his side but she decided that maybe by sacrificing herself some of her sins would be forgiven. So she nodded and choked a sob “Go on then”  
He sighed and whistled. With that men with masks came in carrying a table.  
“What is that?” she asked now more scared   
Sebastian opened his mouth to explain and Wanda felt how he had left her mind so she shot two of the men and ran to the door.  
“Grab her!” One yelled  
She felt four hands pulling her back and she burned their arms with her palms, as the men yelled Sebastian drilled once again her mind, she stopped struggling and they laid her on the table. Each one tied her extremities to the table with a rope, she couldn’t move because of the pain, every time it was getting worse.  
“Let me go!” she kept yelling while the other ones were laughing  
One of them pulled out a giant needle and pulled her arm to him, with the strength she had left she shot him and the needle flew away. The man covered his face screaming in pain.  
Carson went to her and was about to knock her off but another man, this one younger than the other ones came running in   
“Sir, they found us” he said nervously  
Sebastian frowned “Well then we should surrender. Go after them you idiots, all of you!”  
The masked men left the room and closed the door. He went inside of her mind just for the pleasure of causing pain, this time Wanda had begun to bleed.   
Sebastian picked up the needle and held it up in a threatening way.  
This is it, Wanda thought, everything I went through, every single memory I have will disappear, even Pietro, at least there’s a chance I will reunite with him, although I’m not sure that I deserve it.   
She shut her eyes and waited for the blackness of death to take over her. But nothing happened.  
“What the hell?!” Sebastian yelled  
The table she was laying on started to tremble and she opened her eyes in confusion. For a second she thought the Hulk was there, only his footsteps made the ground tremble like it was doing now, but then she saw Sebastian looking at the ceiling with confusion, the needle was levitating. They both stared at it hypnotized until the table started to shake violently  
“What is going on?” Wanda asked  
Sebastian froze for a second and gave her one last look before running for the door and leaving her alone. The table was floating 10 inches from the ground, each second it went higher.  
Wanda tried to free herself from the ropes but the material was resistant. In one hand she was thankful for whatever was happening but in the other one she was awfully worried about being crushed by the ceiling, when she was about a meter away from it she focused deeply and broke the legs of the table, and returned to the floor slowly.  
A familiar face entered the room  
“Vision” she called with a weak grin on her face.  
He ran to her with a worried expression, which wasn’t usual. He knelt next to her and started unknotting the rope. “Are you all right?” he asked  
She didn’t answer, she was both mentally and physically exhausted, but hey, she was still alive!  
“Are you wearing any piece of metal?” he asked her again.  
Wanda frowned and tried to remember if she did, luckily she had left all of her rings and bracelets at the facility “No” she answered “Why?”  
This time he didn’t answer and picked her up, she was too tired to disagree and let herself relax against his cool skin. She tasted blood and remembered her nosebleed. Wanda sighed and wiped the blood off her face. Vision took her out of that horrible room and started walking to the exit, she laughed weakly and he frowned “What is it?” he asked  
She shrugged “You saving me is becoming a habit”  
He made a strange noise “It’s a pleasure” he said in his neutral voice  
Wanda wanted so bad to dig in his mind, she had promised not to do that again with any of her teammates but resisting Vision’s mind was hard, she knew he was a humanoid but she still was curious; she would have done it if her head hadn’t been in the edge of exploding.  
Once they were out he put her down “The other ones are fighting the HYDRA agents while Maria Hill is registering Sebastian’s secret rooms, apparently he had been using the statue as his laboratory. Anyway I shall call the quinjet to take you out of here”  
“No” she said coldly  
He sighed “Wanda you are weak, I do not doubt your capacity but you are not at the best state”  
She took a step back “I’m not leaving, and if you don’t doubt my capacity then let me stay”  
“Don’t give her such a hard time Vision” Stark said. He came behind them in his suit.  
The humanoid’s jaws tightened and nodded, then flew away.  
“What’s his problem?” Wanda asked a bit annoyed  
Stark laughed “the first love is always the most difficult one”  
She turned to face him and Stark coughed “Anyways, you might want to stay away from the east side if you are wearing metal”  
“Why?” she asked  
Iron Man scratched his metal head “Your dad is here”  
“What?!”  
Tony chuckled “We searched for his help, at first he said no but then came to find us and said he would only participate for you. Also, Rhodey is here and there is a super important thing you must not forget” he started saying  
Wanda nodded “What is it?”  
“I made his suit” he said cheerfully  
She face palmed and wrote a mental note: Stark is not the monster I had imagined, he’s just… impossible.


	18. Chapter 18

Natasha hadn’t slept in a day, or two? She and Steve were done with the agents that had been guarding the place. No so far away Magneto was pulling up all metal artifacts from Sebastian’s laboratory towards him, it was way easier than picking them up one by one.  
Hill had been researching Carson and found out that he had been planning his encounter with the Avengers since the battle in Sokovia, he was rather interested in Wanda’s abilities and made a laboratory in a place where he could introduce himself in a “heroic” and powerful way.  
Vision landed next to them, waking Natasha from her thoughts.  
“Has Wanda left?” Steve asked him   
The humanoid shook his head “She insisted on staying”  
Natasha remembered Tony’s comment: Don’t you think Vision acts weird around Maximoff? And couldn’t help to smirk “What’s the plan Cap?” she asked   
“We find Carson and capture him” he answered “Everyone heard that?” he asked through his communicator  
A series of ‘Copy that’, ‘roger that!’, ‘kay Capsicle’, and ‘yeah sure’ came in response. Wanda appeared behind them and placed herself next to Natasha, she smiled at her friend “Missed me?” she asked  
Romanoff smiled “More than I had expected”  
“Hill, where is Sebastian?” Captain America asked  
“He’s coming to you” she answered  
Until then Wanda realized none of her teammates were wearing the helmets Stark had made, then she remembered Erik was pulling every metal accessory and not wearing them seemed like a right choice. Stark and Rhodey were on the air in the meantime.  
Sebastian landed gracefully on the ground “I kind of missed you guys!” he said with a smile  
Captain America walked in front of the team and stared at him “I’m not sure if you got the idea but if you ever dare to touch anyone again you’ll have to fight with all of us.” His tone then softened “you don’t have to do this Sebastian, you can just hand yourself to us and you won’t get hurt”  
Carson snorted “Does that actually work?”  
Stark sighed, Steve was being stupid for thinking the guy would surrender so he landed next to him “No that doesn’t work, so cut the crap and let’s fight”  
Steve looked at Iron Man “Stark, step down, I’ve got this”  
He held up his arms “Oh! I’m so sorry Cap; you’ll surely make him surrender with those kind words”  
Sebastian sighed “I’m not giving up, now are you done with your little fight?”  
Steve nodded “All right then, you will face the consequences”  
Wanda was getting sick of Carson’s attitude and fired at him.  
He moved to the left but she smiled at the sight of his arm being burned.  
In cue a bunch of HYDRA agents came running in and the fight started.  
Black Widow, Iron Man, Rhodey and Vision were taking care of them while Steve and Wanda handled him.  
But he still avoided the attacks, Wanda had to break her promised and went inside Steve’s mind to send him a message Distract him, I have an idea. Steve glanced at her and nodded.  
She prayed for her plan to work and for Steve to make a good distraction.  
The super soldier put his shield on the floor and started jumping. Carson stared at him in confusion; the Scarlet Witch was tempted to laugh but contained it. Then searched for his mind, gladly it wasn’t shielded so she gathered all the anger she had and attacked his head. The scientist covered his head with both of his hands. Steve stopped jumping.  
Carson fell on his knees covering his face, Wanda thought her planned had worked and in a way it did until he looked at her with a crooked smile and a gun in his right arm. She choked a scream and it all happened so sudden that she felt her heart stopped. Steve hadn’t even realized and if it weren’t because he nearly tripped with his shield the super soldier would have not made it. The bullet hit the right side of his chest next to his shoulder and he lost his balance and fell on the floor.  
If she was angry because he had almost killed her, or because he kept torturing her with memories of her brother’s death, she was now furious. Her red energy expired through all of her body.  
“This ends now” she told him “You will never touch anyone again”  
Surprisingly Sebastian was smiling as if being proud of waking up this unexplored part of her abilities.  
“If you want to fight with someone do it with me” she said  
He nodded “Very well” Carson lifted his hands and created some sort of force field, leaving everyone but the two of them in.  
The Scarlet witch looked behind her and saw Natasha kneeling next to Steve trying to calm him down, while War Machine and Iron Man were finishing the agents that were left, and Vision standing outside the force field, he stared at her with his mouth opened, that broke her heart, he looked so… worried or maybe desperate. Wanda decided that this could be the last time she ever saw her friends so she went inside his mind, it was all organized, and less noisy than most of normal minds but it was still magical, she left him a simple message, one that if she died at least she would have had said it Thank you for being my family.   
Sebastian coughed to get her attention; she left her friends mind and looked at him.  
“When I’m finished with you I’ll have a lovely story to tell” he said “A worthy mutant adversary”  
She snorted “You are too dramatic”  
He shrugged and went inside her mind, the only difference is that this time she fully allowed it, when he tried to drill she just opened the door, and he was getting frustrated. She remembered how she had hurt him when she went inside Pietro’s reality so she prayed for that to work again.  
On her brother’s street she was with Sebastian, he kept clenching his teeth and fists, even her head was hurting.  
“What’s your plan?” he asked “stay here until your mind gets overdosed and you end up having a heart attack so we both die?”  
She frowned, that sounded stupid but maybe it was real, she still didn’t answer.  
“Two can play a game Wanda” he said and closed his eyes, he was also creating a parallel alternative, his words were now probably true, the image of the street started to fail and a blackness came in and out in her vision, she wouldn’t be able to hold it enough. She sighed in defeat and left the reality.  
She was back on the force field and dizziness drowned her, she doubted she could be able to go back to the other reality, and she felt a lot worse, the only way she could see her brother again was gone and now Wanda didn’t even cared about crying in public, she felt hopeless and weak.  
Carson was weaker too but he didn’t look like it “Is that all you get?!” he asked in a mocking tone “you are not a real hero, you are nothing more than a weak child that can’t live on and gets depressed because her brother was too stupid to survive!”  
Wanda didn’t feel powerful but she couldn’t give up, her friends wouldn’t be able to stand against a man who had her powers, she wasn’t giving up, she would be strong and man, she wasn’t going to care about what he believed. She missed her brother, yes, but that only made her feel motivated, he had died for a greater cause, she would suffer his fate in exchange of saving lives, she would follow his example if necessary.  
The scarlet witch stood up and summoned all the power she had left and looked at him “I’m weaker than usual but I can still make an explosion”   
Everything that followed was blurry to her, she shot him all the power in her body she hit him with all she had left, her memories, her abilities, her courage and all the love she felt for her new family who she wasn’t ready to give up. Her eyes were closed and she only stopped when she felt empty. Followed by that she fell on her back and realized the force field had disappeared. Her eyes went heavy and she felt blood coming out her nose and probably her mouth.  
Vision appeared next to her “Wanda” he whispered softly in her ear as if he was scared he could hurt her by talking louder  
She smiled “Don’t worry, I’m still breathing” and with that everything went black


	19. Chapter 19

Steve walked slowly towards the body, he needed to check if it was still breathing; Natasha tried to stop him by telling him he was still injured but he didn’t care. He didn’t want the fight to have been in vain.  
The super soldier took a deep breath and knelt next to it and prayed for it no to be death, he took the pulse afraid of the result, and closed his eyes in relief when he found the weak pulse. Even though Sebastian had done wrong he still deserved to have a fair trial.  
Sam landed next to Natasha “What did I miss?” he asked and looking at Sebastian he gulped “Where’s Wanda?”  
Steve stood up and answered “Vision took her to the hospital”   
Falcon had been directing Magneto from a distance to take everything out of Carson’s lab and now returning to find out that his friend was at the hospital made him feel a bit guilty by not having been there to help, but he shook the idea off, Wanda was more than capable of taking someone like Sebastian down.  
Iron Man walked next to Captain America “I called Hill so she can take Sebastian directly to prison and to give us a ride to the hospital”  
Rogers nodded, he was exhausted and only wanted to make sure Maximoff was alright.  
Hill landed the quinjet so she could get them to the hospital while another agent took the unconscious body of Sebastian in a normal helicopter.  
The Avengers entered the flying ship and threw themselves on their seats.  
“We’ll get there soon” Maria promised them “I know a shortcut”  
As soon as the quinjet took off Hill directed it to the left side, they relaxed until it shook violently. Natasha ran to the co-pilot seat “What the hell was that?” she asked  
The agent shrugged nervously “I have no idea but I can’t control it anymore, the engine turned off”  
Rhodey face palmed “Did anyone bothered to tell Magneto the fight was over?”  
Tony sighed “Crap, I’ll go tell him”  
Steve stood up “Won’t he drag your suit?”  
Stark snorted and said in a I know it all tone “That’s what I had thought but then I realized my suit is made of a strong material that won’t get dragged”   
The super soldier rolled his eyes “Have it your way then”  
He nodded, put his helmet on and flew out.  
Ten seconds later Hill’s phone started ringing; she took it out and answered “Yeah?”  
“Look out the window” Stark told her  
They all did and saw the Iron Man suit being dragged and waving at them.  
“I’m afraid we’ll need a plan B” Sam said  
“You might want to hurry, Magneto is not so far away destroying all the metal, I doubt he’ll see us” Stark nodded  
“Everyone calm down” Natasha started saying   
“How can we keep calm if we are flying towards our death!?” Maria yelled “I’M NOT DYING IN A STUPID QUINJET”  
“I have an idea!” Nat yelled “It might not work but it’s our only chance”  
Every second they flew higher so jumping out was not an option anymore.  
The Avengers nodded and Romanoff continued “On my command you’ll turn the engine on and accelerate Hill and Stark move in front of the quinjet” she ordered  
The agent nodded and prepared herself. Natasha crouched and started pulling the cables of the quinjet controls.  
“Guys it’s been a honor fighting alongside you” Falcon said  
“An honor” Rhodey added  
“Yeah, it wasn’t that bad” Stark joked through the phone  
Steve only nodded; he wanted to believe that this wasn’t their end  
Maria Hill cleared her mouth “I also have a thing to say… I’m actually Robin”  
Captain America clapped his hands “Ha! I knew it!”  
Sam covered his face “Damn it! Now I owe Vision and Wanda 20 dollars”  
Natasha stood up and yelled “NOW ROBIN”  
Hill closed her eyes and accelerated at full speed, the ship hit Iron Man making them fly out of the magnet.  
They all stared at each other not being completely sure that it had worked, it was until Tony said “Ouch” through the phone that they laughed   
“Next stop MacLaren’s Bar!” Sam yelled  
Maria Hill rolled her eyes “You are never going to forget this, are you?”  
Steve put an arm around her “C’mon Hill you’ve got to admit that it was: Legen, wait for it…”  
A chorus of “dary!” came from the rest of the Avengers.  
The agent shook her head in a disappointment way, they were all impossible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The jokes are from How I Met your mother (which I don’t own) I hope you get them :P


End file.
